Onagoruwa, ex-Justice Minister,human rights activist dies at 80

RENOWNED lawyer and human rights activist, Dr.Olu Onagoruwa died yesterday aged 80 years. He served as Attorney- General of the Federation and Justice Minister in the Sani Abacha administration, and left after only a few months following differences with his boss. He kept a dignified silence thereafter especially after the murder of his lawyer son,Oluwatoyin,allegedly by operatives of the government he had served. The late legal luminary soon developed stroke. He appeared before the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa panel on Human Right Violations in November 2000 to testify on how the Abacha government killed his son apparently because he (father) dumped the administration.

Onagoruwa studied law at the University of London where he obtained his LL.B; LL.M and PhD degrees before returning to the country, where he attended the Nigerian Law School. He once served as Legal Adviser to the old former Daily Times and was an author of several books and journals on law and press freedom He established the Onagoruwa Chambers in the early 80s and became a key figure in Nigeria’s human rights struggle. His core areas of practice included: constitutional law, legislative matters, banking and insolvency, oil and gas, telecommunication law and litigation. Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State,home state of Onagoruwa, described his death as a sad one that will be deeply felt by the downtrodden and oppressed Nigerians whose cause he passionately championed.

He recalled how the commitment of the late Senior Advocate of Nigeria towards the emancipation and better welfare of ordinary citizens, made him a subject of attack by the authorities, particularly during military regimes. He said:”We cannot also forget his patriotism, which was in the interest of the generality of Nigerians, when as Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, during the regime of the late Gen. Sanni Abacha, he condemned and dissociated himself from some draconian decrees promulgated without his knowledge.

“This action caused him and his family great discomfort but he was uncompromising. Even when his health was failing, he continued to speak against bad governance and human rights abuses.” A former National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, described him as a liberal lawyer and fighter. Agbakoba said:“For us in the legal profession this is indeed a sad loss, but like I always say in situations like this, it is the will of God to recall people. “It is indeed a sad loss, but certainly the will of God.” Falana said: “Dr Olu Onagoruwa was a liberal lawyer, who believed in the bourgeois concept of the rule of law.

“When the late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) and I were detained on several occasions by the military government, he always challenged our detention in court. “His principled commitment to the defence of the rule of law made him to clash with the legal establishment, and at the time the system reluctantly admitted him to the inner bar, he had called it quits with the legal practice. “He was convinced that a fascist and corrupt system (late Gen. Sani Abacha’s dictatorship) could be reformed from within; so, he accepted to be Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.”